49 bmp resting heart rate...doctor time?

skinnylove00
skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
i am a 20 year old very active girl who recently upped my intake to around 1800+ cals a day, netting at about 1400 (going to increase again soon) i LOVE to exercise about 5-6 times a week, i do an even mix of strength training as well as cardio and pilates as well. today i took my resting heart rate and it was 49!!!! :noway: this is pretty low for an athletic woman my age (female athletes should be 54-60 bpm while male athletes are 49-57).

i feel fine except for the fact that my hands and feet are usually always cold and it takes longer than usual to donate blood...not sure if this is related to the low heart rate, but other than that, i feel fit as a fiddle. should i be concerned though?!! ANY advice is greatly appreciated!! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
    I don't know if it's worthy of worry or not. It sounds like your heart is merely efficient. My recommendation is that you call your doctor's office and ask. Just tell the office you have a simple question for the doctor and leave a message for them. I wouldn't make an appointment over the question unless the doctor tells you to do so.

    The blood donation and cold extremities are probably related to the slow heart rate, though, since it's all a matter of how quickly blood circulates when the heart pumps slowly.
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 559 Member
    It wouldn't hurt to call your doctor and ask about it.
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
    Mine is at 47 so am I am cold too :) My Dr. said I was in the best shape of my life so I think you are good to go but double check if you are concerned :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    i am a 20 year old very active girl who recently upped my intake to around 1800+ cals a day, netting at about 1400 (going to increase again soon) i LOVE to exercise about 5-6 times a week, i do an even mix of strength training as well as cardio and pilates as well. today i took my resting heart rate and it was 49!!!! :noway: this is pretty low for an athletic woman my age (female athletes should be 54-60 bpm while male athletes are 49-57).

    i feel fine except for the fact that my hands and feet are usually always cold and it takes longer than usual to donate blood...not sure if this is related to the low heart rate, but other than that, i feel fit as a fiddle. should i be concerned though?!! ANY advice is greatly appreciated!! :flowerforyou:

    low resting HR is a sign of a strong HR, mine is around 48 first thing in the morning and low 50's at rest.
  • coylelaura
    coylelaura Posts: 8 Member
    I am an RN & I'd say if you are not having any symptoms like heart palpitations, shortness of breath, or fainting you should be fine. I am thin & active & my resting heart rate is similar. I see similar resting heart rates in active, healthy, thin, nonsmoking patients.
  • Caged_Heat
    Caged_Heat Posts: 1,031 Member
    My resting heart rate has been in the mid-50's since I started doing simple things like leisurely biking and walking - and losing 15 lbs of fat! It was always in the 60's before.
  • iwillsoonbeslim
    iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
    I haven't taken a proper 'at rest' reading, but when I'm standing at work, say, flicking though pricelists, I am generally in the mid-fifties - and I'm still a good bit overweight, so would expect that to decrease further. I'm in my early 30s and pretty active (walk 8-10 miles on a working day, hillwalk and mountain climb for 6-8 hours on days off, take 2-4 intense classes a week, swim once or twice and gym once or twice.) So I would imagine my genuine 'at rest' bpm would be in the low 40s. I take this to be a sign of health and fitness, rather than anything to worry about.
    Buuuut, if you are concerned, I'd go with the advice of calling your doctor, as it'll be a simple to answer question, I would think :)x
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
    Mine is always low as well. Sometimes it shows (HRM and resting) 43-50 BPM. Whenever I work out (cardio and otherwise) not counting weights or strength, I have a hard time getting into my target zone 125BPM+ it really takes some doing. I think what has happened is I have simply conditioned my heart to rest at a slow place. Mine has always been on the slower side, same with my blood pressure usually being low (however at my highest weight it was something like 130 systolic/80 something diastolic) now it's usually at 100 systolic (has been lower) and then into the 50's diastolic. I contribute this to losing all that weight and lots and lots of exercise. I also USED to smoke too.

    I have considered asking my Dr. about it but I have not had bad symptoms, no racing heart, no pain, no faintness, dizziness, so shortness of breath, etc. Honestly, it's annoying if anything because I have to really work to get in my target zone with A. I can't get there to begin with or B. When I do, it doesn't stay there that long.

    I too always have cold hands and feet, always have!
  • kerrbear79
    kerrbear79 Posts: 229 Member
    As long as you feel fine you should be ok. Mine used to average 37, but I felt like death. It was in the 50's to 60's when I was younger, then started getting slower and slower the older I got (I'm only 32). I didn't start feeling like death until it was in the 40's. I have a pacemaker now which has it set to 60. Got that in October, but now I'm 9 weeks pregnant and feel like death again lol. My cardiologist even told me as long as I wasn't having symptoms it was fine, but I started having symptoms.
  • KellyS0828
    KellyS0828 Posts: 32 Member
    That is not an unusal HR for someone who is physically active. Ecspecially being young. When it drops to the low 40's, or into the 30's that you should really be concerned.
  • stephabef
    stephabef Posts: 936 Member

    i feel fine except for the fact that my hands and feet are usually always cold and it takes longer than usual to donate blood...not sure if this is related to the low heart rate, but other than that, i feel fit as a fiddle. should i be concerned though?!! ANY advice is greatly appreciated!! :flowerforyou:

    This happens to me, too. Apparently it takes longer to donate blood if you aren't hydrated enough. I've been told this the last two times I've gone... strange, because I drink a LOT of water.
  • Chrisgarcia1287
    Chrisgarcia1287 Posts: 38
    i am a 20 year old very active girl who recently upped my intake to around 1800+ cals a day, netting at about 1400 (going to increase again soon) i LOVE to exercise about 5-6 times a week, i do an even mix of strength training as well as cardio and pilates as well. today i took my resting heart rate and it was 49!!!! :noway: this is pretty low for an athletic woman my age (female athletes should be 54-60 bpm while male athletes are 49-57).

    i feel fine except for the fact that my hands and feet are usually always cold and it takes longer than usual to donate blood...not sure if this is related to the low heart rate, but other than that, i feel fit as a fiddle. should i be concerned though?!! ANY advice is greatly appreciated!! :flowerforyou:

    Your resting heart rate is usually lower when your in good shape. You can see a lot of cyclists with heart rates in the 30s. So personally I think your fine. I've gotten mine down to the lower 40s, and I think i'm in pretty top physical shape.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    i am a 20 year old very active girl who recently upped my intake to around 1800+ cals a day, netting at about 1400 (going to increase again soon) i LOVE to exercise about 5-6 times a week, i do an even mix of strength training as well as cardio and pilates as well. today i took my resting heart rate and it was 49!!!! :noway: this is pretty low for an athletic woman my age (female athletes should be 54-60 bpm while male athletes are 49-57).

    i feel fine except for the fact that my hands and feet are usually always cold and it takes longer than usual to donate blood...not sure if this is related to the low heart rate, but other than that, i feel fit as a fiddle. should i be concerned though?!! ANY advice is greatly appreciated!! :flowerforyou:

    low resting HR is a sign of a strong HR, mine is around 48 first thing in the morning and low 50's at rest.

    This!! Mine runs in the low 50's in the morning as well... My doctor has never questioned it as being bad so I haven't been concerned about it.. Considering at one time my resting heartrate was in the mid 90's... :-)
  • escloflowneCHANGED
    escloflowneCHANGED Posts: 3,038 Member
    Mine is 50 and I'm overweight....
  • pukekolive
    pukekolive Posts: 237 Member
    My is 53-60 at rest and I am very overweight (264lbs) and unfit however in the past I used to swim 50 lengths 3 times a week (not fast) and I believe intense cardio and endurance type activity will bring your heart rate down in general.

    When I exercise it takes quite a while to get it into the 75-85% area (130-145 bpm for me) but quickly goes down again when recovering.

    A while ago I had a gall bladder attack and it went down to 44bpm but this was caused by pressure/stimulation of the vagus nerve apparently and the rate increased to around 90-100 again once the pain was gone.
  • Larry0445
    Larry0445 Posts: 204 Member
    Here is a site you can go to. They have a graph for both men and woman....check it out. :-0

    http://www.buzzle.com/articles/resting-heart-rate-chart.html
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    Mfp is good to get an idea of what others are like, but no way to get medical advice. Ask your doctor the question to put your mind at rest. Seems its fine, but I'd ask. Can't hurt x
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Mfp is good to get an idea of what others are like, but no way to get medical advice. Ask your doctor the question to put your mind at rest. Seems its fine, but I'd ask. Can't hurt x

    I agree that it "can't hurt" but, not to lay this on you, one of the reasons why we spend so much on medical care is because we use so much medical care.

    I'm frequently surprised (maybe I'm a slow learner) about the limited level of understanding people have about the human body. As a result, we (as a society) expend a huge amount of resources seeking information and treatment that would be unnecessary if folks had even a rudimentary knowledge of "the way things work".

    For the OP, the posting by the lady who's an RN is the perfect response*.



    *and I know 'cause I was a history major! ;-)
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
    That's about where I sit and have been +/- for 20 years. The only time it mattered one bit was they needed some extra care during surgery.
    In the PACU, my heart rate was in the mid 30s and my BP was ~80/50.
  • rachemn
    rachemn Posts: 407 Member
    My resting heart rate is 45-50 now and I attribute it to my new (fairly anyway) and healthy lifestyle. I do lots of cardio and strengh training and I haven't found that it takes too long for me to get into my target zone and my recovery time seems normal.

    I've always had low blood pressure...even 150 pounds heavier, but because of my hyperthyroidism at one point my heart rate jumped to over 210 beats a minute (I had just got out of my hospital bed to use the bathroom). Scary!

    Now I'm on medication for my thyroid and exercise regularly. No more skipping heartbeats and so I can't complain about it being low, but I'll confess that just last week I was googling this very thing because I was concerned about it. They mentioned it when I was donating blood!
  • montana_girl
    montana_girl Posts: 1,403 Member
    So glad you asked this question! I noticed mine was low when I put my HRM on this morning before my run (briefly down to 46/47), then I looked again and it was in the low 50's. Not sure if it was adjusting because I had just turned it on or if I was just very relaxed before my morning run... LOL
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